using the drug and occasionally ridiculed himself, his clarity severely reduced from the morphine. On one occasion, he almost got arrested for exhibiting himself naked in the Hotel de Ville in Milan. Damala reprised his role as Armand but after a six-week run he collapsed and was carried in the hospital. Shortly before his death, he was offered another role by Bernhardt, in the play Lena, at the Théâtre des Variétés. Just after the second performance, he was considered incapable of playing the part, due to his now permanent lack of clarity and continuous influence from alcohol and drugs. Illegitimate daughter On early 1889, Damala had also fathered a child with one of his mistresses, a theatre extra, who used to inject him with heroin, during intermissions. After his mistress gave birth to a baby girl, she placed the baby, in a basket, on Bernhardt's doorstep, together with a note. Bernhardt was furious to discover that Damala's illegitimate daughter was placed in her care and contemplated having the infant drowned on the river Seine. Bernhardt's servants attempted to notify Damala of his child, however, he was unable to contemplate the situation, due to severely reduced clarity (a result of his deep addiction). Thankfully, his daughter's life was saved by a friend of both Bernhardt and Damala, gun dealer and future tycoon Sir Basil Zaharoff, who proposed to take the child so that he could find a surrogate family for her. Eventually, the girl was baptised Teresa (1889–1967) and was raised in Adrianople, in Eastern Thrace. The adventures of Damala's daughter (who had brief affairs with Ernest Hemingway and Gabriele D'Annunzio and posed as a model for Picasso in the early 1920s) were documented by Fredy Germanos in his historical novel Teresa (Greek: Tερέζα, pronounced Tereza), published in 1997. The book also makes reference to Damala's Parisian life and mentions that Bernhardt remained in love with him until the end of her life. In fact, Bernhardt and Teresa Damala also met each other, years later. Death Damala was found dead in Paris on 18 August 1889, in a hotel room, from an overdose of morphine and cocaine. The news of his death was concealed from Bernhardt until the time she had finished her performance. When she found out, she is cited as saying–presumably out of mercy for his condition– "Well, so much the better...". Bernhardt wore mourning for a year after